The Power of the Summons
by Eidolon Fenrir
Summary: My first proper final fantasy fic, about the Summons, and their true power, and also about Cloud facing his demons. Plz R&R, and i'll continue.
1. Haunted Dreams

Fenrir: This is my first serious ff fic, so I hope u enjoy reading it   
  
All was quiet, except for the sound of the brave man's steady breathing. The air was heavy with anticipation. The hero turned his head as his sapphire orbs scanned his surroundings. He ran a hand through his golden locks and a sudden feeling of being watched rushed through him. He reached for his trusty blade which rested on his back, but his hand only met the roughness of his violet clothes. He panicked. He started to run through the blackness that engulfed him. What was he to do? He needed help. He wanted someone there to hold hid hand, like when he was a child. Then a voice called out to him, a light, gentle voice that calmed his nerves.  
  
"Stop, my prince."   
  
At the sound of the angelic voice, the blonde individual stopped. He knew that voice. He loved that voice. He wanted to hear that voice again. His quavering lips formed an opening of the mouth as he spoke,   
  
"Aeris…"  
  
Cloud awoke with a start. Sweat travelled down his face, dripping onto his bare chest. His breathing was deep, and as he inhaled, he couldn't stop thinking about his dream. Or was it a dream? It seemed so real. He pondered over this in his mind. Of course it was a dream. He heard Aeris' voice, but she's…  
  
"Aaaargh!" he cried as he rose from his bed, pulling a t-shirt over his head. He walked over to the window of his room. It was still dark outside. All the residents of Nibelheim were in their houses, dreaming peacefully. The moonlight reflected off the water of the well, which was still, calm, pleasing to watch.   
  
It had been only one month since Sephiroth had been vanquished, but the events of his journey still haunted Cloud in his dreams. This wasn't the first restless night he had spent thinking about Aeris. And it wasn't always Aeris. Images of dead, limp bodies lingered in his head. He dreamt about the destruction of his home, and could feel the intensity of the inferno in his heart. But worst of all was the shadow of his nemesis, the man responsible for all the deaths. The man responsible for his misery.   
  
"It's in the past!" Cloud told himself, "He's gone. There's nothing you can do!"   
  
He often had to tell himself this. He always needed to convince himself of these facts. A lot had happened since that time. Cloud divided the materia between the party. The emerald magic materia. The cerulean support materia. The golden command materia. The cherry independent materia. And the ruby summons. All the orbs went their separate ways, as did the party. They all departed form Cloud to return home, all except one,  
  
"Cloud, are you alright?" asked the soothing voice of Cloud's childhood friend, Tifa, "I heard you talking, are you ok?"   
  
She advanced into the room, her long, chocolate hair trailing behind her like a discoloured veil. Tifa was the only member of the party not to leave Cloud. And he was thankful for that. It was pleasing to see a friendly face, one he had known since he was young. He had been living in Tifa's house for a while now, and was beginning to feel like it was his home. He liked the cosy atmosphere, the spacious rooms, and he even enjoyed playing the piano from time to time.   
  
"No, I'm fine." was Cloud's simple reply. He turned back to the view of Nibelheim, admiring it's beauty once more.  
  
"Now, I know that's not true." answered Tifa, a slight look of concern on her face, "Have you been having bad dreams lately?"  
  
"No." Cloud responded, biting his lip. He hated lying to Tifa, but he wasn't in the mood for a long conversation. He just wanted to try and get some sleep, but he knew his chances were slim with all these demons haunting his mind.  
  
"OK then," Tifa had a tone of uncertainty in her voice. "A lot has happened you know. What with the whole Sephiroth thing, and everyone leaving, and Aeris…"   
  
She had touched a sensitive spot, for she could see Cloud shiver,  
  
"I'm fine, honestly," he said quickly, walking towards Tifa, "I just need some rest, that's all." He opened his bedroom door, and waited for Tifa to leave, before closing it again. Once again he was alone. He slowly pulled back the covers of his bed, slipped back in, and re-covered himself with his quilt.  
  
And all night, he was disturbed by the ghosts of his past…  
  
When Cloud opened his eyes again, he did not find himself in the security of his warm bed, but instead he was standing outside the great industrial city of Midgar. The many reactors were billowing smoke and other pollution causing substances. The sky was dark. No, it was more than dark, it was pitch black, as was the ground, and the mountains. All was black except for the looming, monstrous city. He must be dreaming. He dreaded the mysteries that awaited him in this haunting dream, for he knew they would not be pleasant.   
  
The blonde-haired sword wielder looked around for someone else, anyone else to share this nightmare with, but there was no-one around. His gaze returned to Midgar, and the city almost invited him to enter. But before Cloud could reply to the invite, he was suddenly being drawn in by the city. Houses and buildings rushed past him as he progressed through the city. When he eventually stopped, he landed atop a bed of flowers, most of them only just sprouting. His hand gripped a spray of leaves, and he remembered their soft touch. They were the same flowers that he landed on when he first met her…  
  
He quickly stood up, looking around, taking in his surroundings. There were rows of benches, pews, extended up to the entrance. There was no artificial light in the place, only the cracks of the roof seemed to emit an eerie light, that shone directly down in front of him. He knew where he was. He was in the church in the Slums, or at least, somewhere that looked like it, because he did not feel the same joy he felt when he was in the church. Instead of the enlightening presence, there was a colder, more sinister atmosphere, that chilled Cloud to his bones. His gaze returned to the alluring pillar of light that stood before him. It glowed a green that soothed Cloud's nerves, just like a drug would. He stared at the illumination, awaiting the next twist of his nightmare.  
  
A figure began to form in the light, gradually growing in size, as if walking towards the lone soldier, who was still stood upon the sprouting flowers. And they were actually sprouting. Their stems began to grow, embarking on their journey to flowering. Normally, Cloud would have been startled by this sudden spurt, but he felt emotionless in this sad dream world. The mysterious figure now stood directly in front of Cloud, but it was still just a silhouette. However, it was clear who it was.  
  
It was definitely a woman, for she was wearing a dress, that flowed down to her ankles. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, fixed in place by a ribbon. She had a slim figure, and although Cloud could not see her face, he knew that it was the woman who had stolen his heart, and then departed from this world, only returning to haunt him in his dreams. He recognized the sweet aura of Aeris, and breathed a sigh of relief as her bodily features became visible.  
  
"Aeris, thank god you're here, I was getting worr…" Cloud began, but then saw the look on Aeris' face. It used to be so bubbly and full of life. Her lips used to shine, like a delicate rose. Her cheeks were so rosy that it looked like she was always blushing. Her emerald eyes were so calming that one look at them would calm your nerves. But now her face was dull, lifeless, depressing. Her lips no longer shone, but just sat there on her face. The cheeks were not rosy any more, but muted and colourless. And her eyes, her angelic eyes now only showed a murky grey colour. A tear fell from the corner of Cloud's cerulean optics, and landed onto the now dead flowers.   
  
"NO!!" he cried at the statue, anger leaking from everywhere in his body. How dare his mind turn Aeris into this lifeless demon. And she really was a demon, for in a second, the human body morphed into a fierce wolf, that snarled and bared its teeth. Then the church filled with a plethora of monsters of all shapes and sizes, each unique in its ferocity. Cloud tried to run, but his legs would not move. He was stuck there, glued to spot by this incredible, invisible force.  
  
The scenery changed too. No longer was he in the sanctity of the church, but in complete blackness once again. The beasts were now approaching, gaining speed. Cloud could hear each individual fiend's snarl, and sense there evil ambience. They hurdled themselves towards the frightened warrior, who was helpless and without a weapon. They collided with the spiky-haired man, their rigid bodies ramming into Cloud's side, but no pain could be felt. He tried to scream to get out of this lurid place. But no sound could be heard, except for the growls of the brutes. Then the wolf that used to be the lifeless form of Aeris paced itself up to Cloud, and opened its monstrous mouth. He could see its yellow canines, dripping with saliva that looked threatening. Although he couldn't breathe, Cloud imagined its breath was putrid. Then, unexpectedly, Cloud was sucked into the monster's great orifice, and blackness consumed him.  
  
For the second time that night, Cloud awoke with a start, his shirt now sodden with sweat, his breath even more winded than the last time. Why has he been having these dreams so frequently lately? Why can't they just leave him alone? All these questions churned around in his mind, but no answers came. The morning sun was now shining through his window, creeping into the room. He exited from his bed, and opened his door. Once out, he was met by the sound of music, tinkling softly, soothing him inside. It was coming from Tifa's room, and he recognized the resonance of the piano. For a couple of moments, all the worries of the previous night had left his mind, and he was high, high on the lack of responsibilities. He sunk to the ground, his body meeting the softness of the carpet. And that was where he stayed until he was interrupted by the conclusion of the music, and he slowly stood up on his feet and walked downstairs, responsibilities once again fluttering about inside of him. 


	2. Turkish Delight

The atmosphere in the room was a serious one. No-one was speaking. Everyone who sat around the large, round table wore blue suits, each one immaculate. The room itself was large, and barely decorated at all. With the exception of a few photographs of Midgar, the walls were completely bare, and the wood that rested on them was newly polished for this meeting. Anyone who saw this room would have thought this room was never used, but they would be wrong, for all of Shinra's meetings took place in this room. There were only three people seated in the room. Nobody spoke, nobody spoke, nobody even flickered an eyebrow. The anticipation was too much. 

The first of the three individuals had a young face, even though his cerulean eyes showed experience. He was getting impatient. Like the other two, he wore a navy blue suit, which was unbuttoned, and his shirt hung loosely from his neck with the absence of the first few buttons. He ran a hand through his vivid crimson hair and sighed,

"Hey, Reno, you alright?" questioned the voice of an older man, who shared Reno's experience. He was also clothed in a navy suit, although his was properly fastened. He was more serious than Reno, for he wore a black tie in addition to his white shirt. His eyes were concealed by dark glasses, and as he spoke, the light shone off his head, which was somewhat lacking hair.

"Yeah, Rude…" Reno replied, not wanting to express his feelings of anxiety. He clasped his hands together, placed his elbows on the pine surface of the table, and rested his chin upon them. Under the table, his leg twitched. He was restless.

"Don't worry, Reno," comforted the voice of a woman, who sat next to the flame-haired man. "We're all nervous." Rude grunted, trying to make out that he was not nervous. If his eyes could be seen, they would have showed a glint of worry though.   
The woman who had spoke completed the trio of the executive team, the Turks. Like Rude, her clothes showed the seriousness of her job. This was Elena, the newest recruit of the team. She pulled out a hand mirror and adjusted her golden hair, her coffee eyes admiring her beauty. She shut the mirror and put it back in her pocket, checking the time on her watch. 11:58.

"He's gonna be late," Reno stated, also looking at his watch. The reason why they were all so nervous is because they were awaiting the arrival of a new member of the Turks. After Tseng had died, they had been one member short.

Rude chuckled, "The only reason you're so damn grumpy is because you wanted to be the leader," Out of the three of them, Reno was the best trained, and he was greatly disappointed when he heard that Shinra had found somebody new to do it.

"Why do we need a new leader anyway?" Reno questioned, bitterness in his voice.

"You know why!" Elena replied, raising her voice a little. A single tear trickled from her eye as she remembered Tseng. Before he died, they had agreed to go out, but she never got to live that distant dream. Reno and Rude glanced at Elena, and knew why she was upset. After that, everyone was silent, until a sound from Elena's watch alerted them it was 12:00. All eyes darted towards the double doors, its dark, wooden exterior looming to watch. Then the shiny, brass handle turned slowly and one of the doors opened. All the Turks waited for their new boss to reveal himself.

The first thing that appeared from behind the double doors was a shoe, polished to perfection, its surface as smooth as opal. Then a leg appeared, the colour of the fabric the same as the others'. Then emerged the rest of the figure. He wore a Turk jacket, turquoise in colour, unbuttoned, and hanging loosely from him. Underneath was a plain white shirt, the top button missing, or maybe just undone. His clothes gave him an aura of importance, but his face gave him a sensation of power. Locks of sea green hair dangled in front of his left eye, completely sealing it from the view of the human eye. His right, however, was visible. It glimmered a dull brown colour as it scanned the room. The rest of his facial features were normal, in fact, they were flawless. Overall, he had a handsome face, but something about him told you that wasn't what got people's attention.

As he walked the length of the conference room, his footsteps echoed, the noise filling the room like an eerie presence. The trio who were seated at the table remained silent, each one anticipating the first words of their new head. Their eyes followed the man around as he approached a chair at the far end of the table, gently pulled it out, and sat down. The new recruit looked down in front of him at a pile of papers that lay atop the polished wood. He shuffled them around a little, eventually extracting a single piece of paper with a paper clip attached, which held in place a photo, but of what, the Turks did not know. After scanning the leaf, he looked up at the other individuals settled at the table. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a rapping at the doors. It opened and a Shinra employee entered. He looked at the new member of the team and spoke,

"I have a message for the new boss of the Turks. A Mister…" he racked his brains for the name he required. "Mister…"

"The name's Nero." came the ominous voice of the secretive boss. It had a tone of malevolence in it. "And don't forget it."

"Y…y…yes…s…s…sir…" replied the employee, taken aback by the sudden tone of voice. He ruffled through the papers that lay in his hands. He picked one out and carefully read out the message written upon it, not wanting to make as mistake. "You have a meeting at 2 o'clock to go over the plans for rebuilding our reputation."

"Very well," Nero said, looking at the stationary messenger, "You may go now." The man nodded his head and left the room hastily, wanted to escape Nero's clutches.

"What does he mean 'rebuilding our reputation', sir?" asked Elena formally, wanting to get on the good side of her new boss.

"After our plan to destroy Meteor failed, people started to doubt Shinra's power," he answered, eying the blonde woman.

"But that wasn't our fault!" Reno exclaimed, leaning forward sharply. He had noticed this fall in respect as well. People staring at him whenever he walked through the streets, there eyes not filled with reverence, but a mild disgust. He loved the power he once had, the power to command respect whenever he wanted, the power to make people step aside when they were in the way. However, all that was now gone.

"Just you calm down, red-head!" Nero ordered, speaking with the power that Reno used to have, and longs for now.

"The name's Reno, and don't you forget it!" Reno answered back, anger filling up inside of him.

"I'm sorry, I only remember important names," Nero retorted, a smirk forming on his otherwise motionless face, "Not names of washed-up has-beens." Reno stood up, ready to throw back another comment, but Rude put a hand on his shoulder, slowly shaking his head. Rude looked at his fellow Turk and obeyed, sitting gently down.

"So what's our next mission, sir?" Elena asked, glancing sideways at Reno, who was glaring at Nero, hatred visible in his eyes.

"Well, as I was saying before I got interrupted," he replied, staring back at Reno, "We need to rebuild our reputation. And to do that, we need to show off our power." He looked at the sheet of paper in his hand and then threw it across the table at Reno. Reno hesitantly picked up the page, and looked at it. The first thing he saw was the photograph attached. It was of a young man with blonde, spiky hair. He wasn't smiling as he stared back at Reno, his bright blue eyes standing out from the rest of his face. On the actual paper itself was a list of details;

Name: Cloud Strife   
Age: 21   
DOB: 19.8.83   
Height: 173cm   
Place of Residence: Nibelheim

The list continued, stating every little fact known about the swordsman who had saved the world from Meteor, including blood type, weight, eye colour, hair colour, even his parents' names. Everything about him was written down on the paper, his whole life summed up in a matter of words. But what caught Reno's attention most were the two words printed at the bottom of the paper, **BAHAMUT** and **KOTR**. Reno knew that KOTR stood for Knights of the Round, but that didn't explain why two of the sixteen summons were printed on this page.

"Next look at these," Nero ordered, skimming seven more pieces of paper to Reno, who once again picked them up and looked at the photographs, and the two words printed in bold at the bottom of each page; A brown haired, beautiful woman, **SHIVA** & **PHOENIX**. A short haired, black man, **TITAN** & **NEO** **BAHAMUT**. A beast, flaming red fur, **IFRIT** & **BAHAMUT** **ZERO**. A teenage ninja-girl, **LEVIATHAN** & **ALEXANDER**. A stuffed cat atop a giant mog, **CHOCO**/**MOG** & **KJATA**. A middle-aged pilot, **RAMUH** & **TYPHOON**. And finally a mysterious man, most of his face hidden, **ODIN** & **HADES**. Reno was perplexed. Were their targets Cloud and his party? And why were all the summons listed, two for each person?

"I…I don't understand," Reno stated, his confusion affecting his speech.

"What? Show us." Elena pleaded, eager to witness the mystery that had puzzled Reno. Reno slid the papers over to Rude's direction, much to the annoyance of Elena. Reno scanned the papers himself, although he did not look as mystified as Reno. Rude never showed his emotions outside. He then handed them to Elena, whose reaction was worse than Reno's.

"What!? I don't understand! Why are these here? And these? And those?" the questions just flooded out of her mouth, as she pointed to different parts of the document. She only stopped when Nero held up a hand to signal for silence.

How about you listen, instead of asking stupid questions." Nero exclaimed aggressively. Elena settled down, not wanting to upset their new boss. "At the present, Cloud and his party are the most powerful people on the planet, and not just because they are strong. They also hold a kind of power that demands respect. But it has come to our attention that the only reason they are considered the strongest is because people are scared to challenge them. And why are they scared?" he asked rhetorically, eying each members of the Turks, "It's because of the summons."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Reno asked, his curiosity overpowering his hatred for Nero.

"First we ruin their reputation, then we steal the summons." Nero answered. Reno was shocked. He knew the summons were powerful. On numerous occasions had he been burned, frozen, electrified, drenched, smashed, bashed and overall beaten by them. He also knew that Cloud and his posse would not let go of the summons.

"And how do you plan we do that?" Rude asked. It was the first time he had spoken since Nero had first entered the room. Although his words were sarcastic, he spoke them in a normal tone. Nero looked at the bald man, trying to decide what he was like. He knew what Elena and Reno were like by the way they acted, but Rude gave nothing away. Everything about him was cool and calm, his emotions kept inside. Although Nero could not figure out Rude, Rude knew perfectly well what he felt about Nero. The same way Reno did, and Elena did deep inside. Hatred. But he was not one to let his colleagues get in the way of his jobs.

Nero eventually stopped trying to deduce Rude's personality, and answered with a sentence that was short, but still stuck in the Turk's minds.   
"Everyone has their weaknesses…"


End file.
